Potpourri - QSL.net

October 1995 Potpourri

Note: !"Saturday, November 11, 1995, is Cary Bandday. As many of you know, CARC has
supported this event for the past 15 years by providing communications for the parade
officials, parade marshals, and medical teams. In the morning, we assist them with the
check-in and staging of the parade units. We also need several bicycle mobiles. Call
Glynn, K4RKI at 467-8416 to sign up and help.

!"If you lost a jacket at last month’s meeting call KM4LB at 469-5129.

!"For those of you who took pages of the ARES roster last month to update, please
complete your edits and bring them to the meeting this month.

!"I am looking for a PC to use as a LINUX platform. Minumum requirements are 386
and 8 mb of memory. Keyboard, monitor, and mouse are optional. KM4LB 469-
5129.

!"For Sale: Drake 2B Shortwave receiver and matching external speaker. Very good
condition. $100 or BO. Tripp, KC4QOJ, 467-1032.

!"For Sale: Kenwood TS-520 SE HF rig. Includes crystals and filters, remote vfo and
external speaker. $450 or BO. Tripp, KC4QOJ, 467-1032.

!"I need 4mb or more of SIP memory chips to upgrade a pc. These are the 30 pin
variety, 80 ns. KM4LB, 469 5129.

CARC Minutes Wake Digital Communications Group
(WDCG) - Lee, N4AJF. WDCG is about
September 28, 1995 ready to get 9600 up and running on 440
MHz. Some tech help will be needed.
Meeting called to order at 7:33 p.m., by
Pres., Bob, KB9MS. Introductions. Old Business

Treasurer's Report - Will, K4IWW Motion to buy Lou Metz's (SK) Drake
TR4CW/RV4C/PS. Agreed!

Savings: $2,839.96 Officer Nomination - The Nominating
Checking: $2,249.18 Committe requested a delay of one month
to resolve a problem. Granted.
Total: $5,089.14

Dues still being received ($9/yr.). CARC New Business
caps still available.
Band Day (Nov. 4). Glynn, K4RKI, to
Piedmont-Coastal Repeater Network handle. Christmas Dinner. Tom,
(PCRN) - Ed, AB4S. The Trenton KM4LB, to handle. Christmas Project,
repeater is down. Danny, KM4OX, and Cary Towne Center. Yes. On CW. Herb,
Mike, WB4TQD, trying to get over to take N4UE, to handle.
a look at it.
George Lemons of the National Weather
Amateur Radio Emergency Service Service presented Weather Spotter
(ARES) - Tom, KM4LB, SET, Simulated Training. Many CARC members and
Emergency Test is October 21. Tune in guests upgraded and became certified
and turn out! Weather Spotters.

n4ue

This is the last Feedline for 1995.
Start working on your 1996 contributions now!

Condo Communicator - Volume VI floors/celings would be
hidden) and connected it to a 40-meter

dipole wrapped around the ceiling

More tips on operating from restricted locations. perimeter of a second-floor bedroom.

This worked quite well for me for a long

SOAPBOX That 30-meter loop strung around the time. I seldom ran more than 50 watts
from my Drake TR3, and usually it was
bedroom ceiling will radiate through more like 10-35 watts. Never had any
problems with RFI, though I mostly
You would think that the challenge in plaster and wood. But wet shingles will operated very late at night.

operating from restricted space would be in seriously attenuate 70 cm or shorter

the HF part of the spectrum. After all, the wavelengths if you're shooting for a

antennas are large and you have to run a lot satellite. Alan Brubaker, K6XO, of Draper, UT has
of power to be heard, right? Evidently, not a couple of interesting descriptions.
so. Besides, unwieldy, high-gain UHF

antennas are much more difficult to install The Condo Loop Antenna
From what we've seen in the first six issues and operate in cramped quarters than a

of the newsletter, putting up an HF antenna length of wire tacked up on walls. A A few years ago we lived in a condo in
in restricted space may involve some typical OSCAR array looks like an anti- California. The usual situation - no
athletic ability, such as crawling around aircraft battery as it is rotated and tilted to antennas allowed. Fortunately, each
attics, but once there the antennas seem to track its targets: who has an attic big condo had a small backyard with which
radiate well enough. Even when running enough for that? you could do more or less what you
low power (under 50 watts) to minimize wished. I decided to try a loop antenna in
RF coupling into power lines or So, we condo dwellers could rely on two the small backyard. One corner of the
overpowering appliances, covert operators meters for our connections to better loop was hung at the roofline of the two
have been making themselves heard. Of equipped stations, which can then in turn story building, and the corners of the loop
course, these stories might have turned out allow us to connect to other stations. Or, were attached to the 6 foot fence on either
differently if we hadn't been enjoying the perhaps we will use the microwave side of the backyard. I cut the loop for 20
benefits of the great solar cycle 22 as it spectrum, connecting to better equipped meters (about 68 feet), and it just fit - it
peaked during 1990 through 1992. stations with small dishes that can be was roughly triangular, and sloped away
mounted temporarily on the outside of our from the building at about a 45 degree
As Lew McCoy, W1ICP, is fond of saying, buildings or on portable masts we can angle. I fed the loop directly with RG-8
just get as much wire as possible as high quickly set up in other locations. coax with no balun. We had cable so no
and clear as possible to radiate a signal. TVI problem. The antenna tuner in my
But as we cruise deeper into a stagnant Hopefully, people who do operate the UHF TS930 could tune this arrangement 40
Sargasso Sea of solar inactivity, we may spectrum from portable or restricted through 10 meters, and I was able to make
find that our modest crafts no longer will quarters will contribute notes this coming contacts on all of those bands, but of
do the job for us (talk about stretching for year to the newsletter, as well as folks who course it worked best on 20. I used #24
a metaphor...whew). have discovered various gateways speaker wire which was nearly invisible.
in their communities. During the coming Never had any complaints from the
This is when covert ops either move years, as the ionosphere becomes a poorer neighbors either, but they probably did not
someplace where they can erect reflector of signals, it will be interesting to know that I was even on the air.
larger antennas or they do as the radio see what ingenious strategies covert

pioneers did and relay their messages. operators come up with. The Fishing Pole Portable Antenna

Back then, they sent their messages in 30

to 100 mile hops by spark gap or CW. STATION DESCRIPTIONS About 30 years ago, a friend of mine,

Nowadays, the covert operator can put up a K6RU (sk), then W6HJT, made frequent

tiny two-meter antenna and use an HT and Doug Heacock, AA0MS, of Lawrence, KS: trips to Hawaii. While he was there, he
a computer to connect to local, but well-
stayed at the Surfrider Hotel on Waikiki
equipped, packet gateways between the Until recently, I lived in a townhouse and Beach, and he always got a suite on the

VHF and HF worlds. Some communities couldn't put up a "real" antenna. I started top floor. He ran a KWM2 and a 30L1
are lucky enough to have satellite with a random wire, strung from my
amplifier to a "Fishing Pole" antenna. He
gateways, like N0NBH in Denver, CO, basement operating position, up the
had a deep sea fishing rig, and wound on
where hams can use low-end packet basement stairs and around the corner and the reel was bare copper stranded wire

stations to communicate with satellite diagonally across my living room with a 2 pound lead fishing weight tied on

bulletin board stations. ceiling. I tuned it with an MFJ 949 tuner, the end. He hung the fishing pole out the

and did okay with it for a while. window and reeled out the appropriate

I think the most technical challenge facing amount of wire for the band that he

the apartment or condo dweller isn't HF or Later I ran coax from the basement through wanted to operate on. (He had measured
even VHF communications: it's UHF. a couple of closets (where the holes in the

Page 2

(Continued from page 2) major difference. First QSO on 40 meters my case, the major complaint was about
the *coax*, not the antenna itself.
the wire before the trip and marked it with was a local, second QSO was in Italy. I - Use non-obtrusive wire and vertical
antennas. Save the multi-element yagis
tape for 80 through 10 meters). He clipped was now on 7 bands! I then happened to and dishes for your mid-life crisis.
- Be very helpful about RFI and tell
the center conductor of the coaxial feedline need 80 meters. I built a 130' dipole and everyone how great cable TV is.
- A condo can actually be an advantage if
near the reel, and he clipped the shield to a fed it with twin lead, running the twin lead you play your cards right. My antenna is
50 feet high with no tower. - If you are
pre-cut counterpoise which was run along into the same window as the coax. Things buying a property, make your offer
contingent upon the examination of the
the baseboard of the room. The wire were starting to get visible, but no one said covenants for antenna restrictions.

fishing line and the counterpoise thus anything. This antenna also seemed to BIBLIOGRAPHY

formed a kind of dipole antenna which work ok on 160 meters. (First QSO was Cleary, Jack, WN2Q. "Another Attic
Antenna," The QRP Quarterly,
worked surprisingly well. Los Angeles, 500 miles.) All 9 HF bands -
July 1993, pp. 21-22
great! Then our complex needed a new
Jack describes an attic-mounted delta loop
The combination of being 150 feet above roof. The president of the Homeowners for low-angle radiation, one of the eight
loops described by Doug DeMaw in
the beach and the 600 watts was enough to Association asked me to take down my his W1FB's Antenna Notebook. Jack's
loop is calculated for 14.060 Mhz with the
overcome the deficiencies of the antenna stuff to get it out of the roofers' way. (The loop formula: Length = 1005/F (Mhz).
Jack had a real adventure installing the
system and he got out quite well. This timing was perfect because we needed the antenna in the attic of his small, one-story
bungalow, including a surprise descent
approach could also work from a high-rise R-7 for Field Day.) When I went to put it into a closet, much to the consternation of
his XYL. Fun to read and great info.
apartment building, if you are not on the all back up, I was stopped. By this time I
Belrose, Jack, VE2CV. "An Update on
ground floor, that is. Alan reminds us that was no longer serving on the board. There Compact Transmitting Loops,"

it's pretty easy to be heard, even with low was an objection to my coax going off the QST, November 1993, pp. 37-40.

power and a less-than-ideal antenna setup, end of the roof, and also my walking on A great article that sums up the theoretical
underpinnings of small transmitting loops
given a clear frequency and good this brand new and very expensive shake and which also compares the performance
of different types of loops. Some of the
propagation. He says to continue roof. So I proceeded to enlist the support commercially available loops mentioned
are the AMA series (a German brand:
experimenting. of the two board members (of 3) who did Abstimmbare Magnetische Antennen), the
AEA Isoloop, and the MFJ Super High-Q.
not object to the antennas.
Loops, while not comparing favorably
Alan continues: with dipoles on 75 and 40 meters, do
compare well with mobile whips, for
I wrote a letter to the board explaining how example. Generally, the larger the
diameter of the loop and the diameter of
I have talked to countless operators, mostly I needed the antenna for my volunteer the loop conductor, as well as the greater
its height above ground, the better the
on 10 meters, who are using all sorts of participation in the local ARES/RACES low-angle radiation pattern given a
horizontal orientation. How about
indoor and clandestine antennas. I even organization (which is true - our nets are on from the balcony of a 20-story building?

talked to a fellow in Florida one day who 10 meters). I also got the president of the The article doesn't say.

was using a ground mounted DDRR and he local organization to write a letter (continued on page 4)

had a surprisingly good signal. AEA and confirming this. The letter asked for

MFJ have come up with their compact 'temporary authorization' so as not to

loop antennas which are also useful in conflict too badly with the covenants.

restricted situations.

The board finally approved the antenna

Walt Spector, KK6NR, of Sunnyvale, with the provision that I run the coax

California operates most of the ham bands through the attic and a vent pipe. (The

from his condo. At the time of his first roofer and I had discussed installing a vent

installation, he was on the board of his pipe at a certain strategic spot...) Since I

homeowners' association and had helped live upstairs, I could run the coax into the

reduce some TVI from the community's closet from the attic. So the R-7 is back up

hot water heater by putting some ferrite and I am fairly happy. But I am sans 80

around its power line. and 160. My next project would be to use

I first installed a 120' long wire and used a a remote coax switch and up something

tuner. It was invisible, but living on the simple on 2 meters and 440, except that I

second floor I could not get a good ground. will be moving soon. The house we are

Thus, it generated a lot of RFI and I did closing on was contingent upon lack of

not use it. My second antenna was a antenna restrictions in the

Cushcraft Ringo half wave for 10 meters. covenants. Moral of the story? There are

This was cheap ($40) and I figured it several:

would test the waters for a more extensive

system. I ran the coax off the roof and into - Get on the board of the Homeowners

my upstairs window. Almost no one Association so that you can be a decision

noticed. maker - not a complainer.

- Get active with local ARES/RACES so

Buoyed by this success, I bought a you have a legitimate need for the antenna.

Cushcraft R7. Again no one noticed any - Be sure that appearance is kept neat. In

Page 3

Cary Amateur Radio Club Condo Communicator (continued)

The Cary Amateur Radio Club meets on the fourth Thursday of the TECHNICAL NOTES
month, 7:30 p.m. in the lower level of the Christian Life Center of
White Plains United Methodist Church. The June, November, and The ARRL has a pretty nifty electromagnetic interference
December meetings are held off-site. Call for location of those pamphlet that they will send to ARRL members. It's a
meetings. Next Meeting: October 26, 1995. reprint from the February and March 1992 issues of QST
"Lab Notes" and was written by Ed Hare, KA1CV, Senior
1995 Officers Laboratory Engineer.

KB9MS Bob Lukaszewski 833-0199 President In addition to troubleshooting techniques (always proceed
KB4LFH Mike Crowder 319-9556 Vice-President from the easiest solutions to the most difficult), hints on
K4IWW Will Harper 467-0224 Treasurer diplomatic dealings with neighbors, and some good theory
N4UE Herb Lacey 467-9608 Secretary (like distinguishing between differential and common-
mode interference), Ed includes a long, long list of sources
Feedline for filters and components. This looks like the EMI
package to get and keep close at hand, especially if you're
Feedline is a member-supported publication of the Cary using indoor antennas.
Amateur Radio Club and is published monthly. Deadline
for submissions is the second Thursday of the month. EMI/RFI Package Updated: January 19, 1993 File:
rfigen.txt Reprinted from February and March 1992 QST
Editor: Tom Klimala, KM4LB "Lab Notes" Copyright 1992 American Radio Relay
1545 Seabrook Avenue League, Inc. All rights reserved. Prepared as a
Cary, North Carolina 27511 membership service by: The American Radio Relay
League, Inc. (ARRL) Technical Information Service 225
Main St Newington, CT 06111 203-666-1541 FAX: 203-
665-7531 BBS: 203-666-0578 MCI: 215-5052
Internet: [email protected] antenna.

Page 4

Cary Amateur Radio Club
Post Office Box 53
Cary, North Carolina 27512

Next meeting - October 26 at 7:30 p.m.
Elections! All no-shows will be the first ones nominated!